Thirlestane Castle
Thirlestane Castle is a castle near the town of Lauder in the Scottish Borders . The castle is located on a hill, Castle Hill , in Lauderdale, the valley of Leader Water . The land has been owned by the Maitland family since 1587, who own the castle as the Earls of Lauderdale . Thirlestane Castle is currently inhabited by Gerald Maitland-Carew, grandson of Ian Colin Maitland, 15th Earl of Lauderdale.
Building history
Fortified fortifications were built on the site of today's Thirlestane Castle before the 13th century. It served to secure the southern access to Edinburgh through the Lauderdale valley. In the 16th century, the property passed to Robert Lauder of that Ilk, who gave it as a dowry to his daughter Alison Lauder when she married George Wedderhede in the early 1530s.
Alison Lauder and George Wedderhede as well as their son were killed in feud in the following time, so that the property fell back to their parents. In the conflict between England and Scotland, known as The Rough Wooing , from 1543 to 1550, Castle Hill was occupied by the English and used as a garrison . Under the direction of Sir Robert Bowes, a fort was built on the site within four weeks . Robert Lauder of that Ilk and his wife Alison Cranstoun died in 1567, leaving the property to their grandchildren.
The Maitland family originally came from Normandy and reached England with William the Conqueror in 1066. They first settled in Northumberland . The Maitlands secured their influence and wealth in Scotland through military service and their participation in the legal administration of the country. For example, Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlstane , the father of Castle Hill buyer Sir John Maitland, was a member of the Supreme Court and a well-known Scottish poet. He was also Keeper of the Privy Seal and thus one of the Great Officers of State . His son, Sir John Maitland, succeeded him in this office and was also Lord Chancellor of Scotland (Lord Chancellor). Sir John's brother, Sir William Maitland of Lethington, served as Secretary of State to Mary Queen of Scots . He lived in the family headquarters, Lethington Castle in East Lothian , which is now the Lennoxlove House and the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton .
Sir John Maitland bought Castle Hill on January 27, 1587. In the year of purchase, he had a square donjon or a residential tower built on the foundations of the English fort . 1590 he was after taking office as Lord Chancellor of Scotland and in the course of the wedding celebrations of James VI. of Scotland with Anna of Denmark and Norway raised to 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane. He had the house expanded into the new residence of the Maitlands, which replaced the family seat about two miles south, a residential tower ( Peel tower ), which was also called Thirlestane Castle and the remains of which are still accessible as ruins. An ancestor of the Maitlands, Sir Richard Mautalent, acquired this castle and Lauderdale in the mid-13th century through his marriage to Avicia, daughter and heiress of Thomas de Thirlestane.
Sir John Maitland's son, John Maitland, 2nd Lord Maitland of Thirlestane , was promoted to Viscount of Lauderdale in 1616 and Lord Thirlestane and Boltoun, Viscount Maitland and 1st Earl of Lauderdale in 1624. His son, John Maitland, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale , was one of the most important Anglo-Scottish politicians in the mid-16th century. In 1660 he became the most important figure in Scotland as Secretary of State in Scotland under Charles II . In 1672 he was named Duke of Lauderdale. Through his marriage to Elizabeth Tollemache, 2nd Countess of Dysart, he also came into the possession of Ham House near London.
In Thirlestane Castle, the first Duke of Lauderdale employed the architect Sir William Bruce to convert the complex into a larger residence suitable for the increased social status of his person. Between 1670 and 1676 Bruce added two more towers to the front corners of the inner tower-like structure and placed a large external staircase between them. Inside, the rooms were converted into state apartments and equipped with elaborate stucco ceilings by the English plasterer George Dunsterfield .
From 1840 Thirlestane Castle was expanded in the Scots Baronial style by the Edinburgh architects David Bryce and William Burn . The central building was enlarged by further wings so that the building now has a T-shaped floor plan. A kitchen, pantries, laundry rooms and quarters for the staff were set up in these new extensions.
In 1984 Gerald Maitland-Carew, who had inherited the house in 1972 from his maternal grandmother, widow of the 15th Earl of Lauderdale, handed it over to a foundation. This was set up specifically to preserve the complex and was largely financed by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and the Historic Buildings Council. This connection of public and private organizations, known as the Thirlestane Formula , developed into an exemplary solution for the preservation of other historical building complexes and was also used in Paxton House , for example .
literature
- Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Seats of Aristocracy in Scotland . Könemann, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8290-0404-4 , pp. 74-81.
Web links
- Thirlestane Castle website , accessed March 18, 2011
- Maitland family website , accessed March 18, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Seats of Aristocracy in Scotland . Könemann, Cologne 1998, p. 74.
- ^ A b Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Aristocratic Seats in Scotland , Könemann, Cologne 1998, p. 76.
- ↑ Website of the Maitland family ( Memento of the original dated November 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 18, 2011.
- ^ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Aristocratic Seats in Scotland , Könemann, Cologne 1998, p. 75.
Coordinates: 55 ° 43 ′ 21 " N , 2 ° 44 ′ 37" W.